


Joe Schmoe's Don't Ya Know

by iambjo12



Category: Victorious
Genre: After Hollywood Arts, Cutesy, Explicit Language, F/F, completed work
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 11:55:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10162526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iambjo12/pseuds/iambjo12
Summary: It happened one night, then another.  Tori and Jade find themselves together in the same bar outside of city limits a year after graduating from Hollywood Arts.





	

The bar around us had fallen into oblivion, the lights were only something that allowed us to see one another, the other patrons on the dance floor, nothing more than illusions to our surroundings, as if we were in a piece of movable artwork.  I didn’t hear the music anymore but I’m pretty sure that she did, her ass pressed against my pelvis, swaying hypnotically.  

 

My hands gripped her hips, fingertips slid into the waistband of her blue jeans.  One of her hands were on top of mine, the other was stretched over her shoulder, on the back of my neck.  My chin rested on her other shoulder, and occasionally I turned my head and gently kissed her neck.  

 

I sighed contently in her ear, brushing my lips across it sending shivers through her body and into my own.  Nothing mattered to me in that moment but her.  The fact that it was Tori Vega and that I was Jade West,  along with all of our history together was a distant memory to me.  She had become another person to me entirely here at the bar.  A stranger of sorts who I lost myself in completely, letting go of everything that I had ever come to know.

 

We had met at Joe Schmoe's Don’t Ya Know one summer night, completely accidentally, although in these moments I would have to argue that point, that nothing was just an accident.  It could have been anyone that I saw at the bar that night, but it was her, it was Tori.  The first time she was Tori to me, the woman that I had graduated with a year before.  

 

My summer plan for in between my first two years of college had been to come up to this cottage inn that I had drove past with my father on one of his business trips that I got to go on.  Just looking at it made something click inside of me that this was the place where some serious work could be done at.  A thought provoking hide-away that would relax me into a complete work coma.  

 

Had I not already been hired back in the city for a Monday through Friday job I would have stayed there for the entire summer.  But the job was much needed and I had to settle with just Friday nights to Sunday afternoons.  After the first weekend it had become a very small complaint because I realized that the drive up allowed for much needed time to unwind from the stress of work and the time back home for thinking.  

 

I had yet to discover how important that time would become to me, the first weekend being uneventful compared to what it would become.  I knocked out a complete plan of attack for my screenplay that was so near and dear to me and I had felt accomplished.  My cottage by the lake plan had been the utmost success and damn if I didn’t congratulate myself heavily.  

 

Thing about that is most times that you congratulate yourself for a job not even started, you bite the dust big time.  It wasn’t any different for me because on the second weekend from the time that I had gotten there Friday evening to Saturday night, I looked from my plan of attack to a black screen.  

 

Feeling a need for a drink and being in a cottage that shared a parking lot with a bar, I walked myself over to said establishment.  Passing through all of the vehicles scolding myself for the early pat on the back, I didn’t see a major clue of what I was about to walk into.  Nearly all of them, I noticed later, had rainbow or equality stickers on them, one in particular belonging to an old nemesis of mine.  

 

The place was packed, it was a Saturday night after all, and I noticed dimly lit.  Clouds of smoke hung in the air and I inhaled deeply.  Strangely, I felt very at home there.  I made my way to the bar which for all of the people in there was oddly empty.  Taking a seat on a stool, I waited patiently, for me anyway, to get the bartender’s attention, my black nails tapping on the hardwood.  It was silly on my part to try and out click the pop music coming from the jukebox, but hey, a girl does what she can for a drink, right?

 

I watched as the bartender poured drink after drink that I didn’t have the pleasure of tasting, and I noticed that she was a woman, the short gray hair and dark blue polo misleading me momentarily, although it wasn’t as if I had walked in and saw a man either, just a person, a bartender, who was losing tip money in my mind for taking so damn long to saunter my way. 

 

“I.D.,” she said in a gruff voice, not looking at me but seeing as how no one else was around had to of meant poor lil ol’ me.  I slid my fake I.D. on the counter and looked off uninterested.  I’m pretty sure that she didn’t even look at it, which kind of pissed me off.  Why should I go through the trouble of obtaining then displaying it when it wasn’t even going to be properly checked, plus it was a really good picture.  “What do ya want?”

 

“She’ll have a double, she needs to catch up,” a familiar voice stated from behind me.  I turned and found none of than Tori Fucking Vega standing there grinning at me, an almost empty glass at her lips.  She tossed the rest back and put the glass on the counter.  “And one more for me.”

 

“Sure thing, sweet cheeks,” the bartender said pouring the order.  After sliding the drinks over she gladly took Tori’s cash, which had to include a hefty tip, with a wink before going back down to two women, outfitted in flannel shirts, looking eerily similar to one another, and who had impeded on my wait time from before.  

 

“Friend of yours?” I asked, taking the larger of the two glasses.  I felt her sit down on the stool next time mine but I was glaring at the gaggle of women snickering as they stare at me, to see her do so.  She reached across my bubble and retrieved the shot glass.  I turned my attention back to her and watched as she took a tentative sip. 

 

“Gail is cool, in her own way,” Tori said, turning her bubbly brown eyes to mine.  She smiled that damn thousand watt smile and I my shook head, a small leer on my lips.  

 

“I have to admit, I never would have thought I’d ever see you in a place like this, although I can’t say that I’m disappointed.”

 

“A place like this?  Think of me just as a city girl Vega?” I asked, hoping for harshness, taken aback when she smiled wider at me.  She shook her head and her lips faltered briefly. 

 

“I wasn’t talking about the town, look around you Jade,” Tori said, gesturing with her chin to our surroundings.  I suddenly felt like we were back in high school, which only ended a year ago, because the need in me to do anything but what she tells me to do was so strong, instinctual almost.  But as I turned my head back to the women at the end of the bar, I don’t know how I had mistaken them for only looking at me, it was so obvious that they were looking at Tori and I together.  

 

Realization slowly started to click in my brain and I did look around.  Behind us, there was a table of what look like college aged women, smiling, drinking, laughing, what I presumed was flirting.  Next to them was a smaller table where two women were holding hands and looking at each other longingly.  Beyond, there were other tables with other all women couples in various states of open relationships.  From the just dating to an older lesbian couple sharing a plate of fries.  

 

“Oh shit,” I said out loud.  I heard Tori sigh next to me and when I turned back to face her, the smile was gone completely, leaving sad eyes behind, and pursed lips, which opened as her mouth made all of the liquid in the glass disappear.  I looked down at my full glass and downed it in two gulps.  Tori cocked her eyebrow, just like she did when we were in school. 

 

“You haven’t changed much,” not knowing why I said it.  

 

“It’s only been a year Jade, how much could have possibly changed since then,” she replied, her voice thick with something that I had never heard from her and was trying to desperately place when Gail came back over.  

 

“She’s all caught up with ya darlin’, does that mean what I can only hope for?” Gail asked resting her elbows on the bar top and grinning at Tori.  She had to be in her 40’s, or 50’s, and she was clearly hitting on my, well, Vega anyway.  

 

“Look you,” I started to say before Tori clamped a soft hand over my mouth.  It was there before I even knew how I was going to finish the sentence, like she expected it from me or something. 

 

“Yeah,” she sighed and rolled her eyes “give us the setup.”  Gail, who didn’t even bother to look away from Tori even for a second while I started a shortly lived tyrant, smiled broadly and went to work on something out of eyeshot below the bar.  

 

“Dude, she’s not like spiking our shit is she?  And what the hell is the setup?” I asked leaning over the bar to see what I was about to be served by a very gay lady in a very gay bar. 

 

“It’s an arrangement of shots served in a kind of square off,” Tori replied. 

I turned and faced Tori again.  She had her elbow resting on the bad and she cradled her head in her hand.   

 

“Like a competition?” I asked, my eyebrows do the arching now. 

 

“I miss the piercing,” she said intently looking at my eyebrow and frowning. 

 

“Me too, but I had to take it out for work.  So like a drink off?” I started to get excited, I could feel my lips curving upward.  Tori, however, did not look like she was sharing my enjoyment.

 

“Yeah,” she sighed.  I studied her usually seldom solemn face and before I could comment or question it, I hadn’t decided which, good ol’ Gail came back up bringing with her two sets of six shots of the same brown liquor.  My head was still turned and I saw Tori’s face suddenly brighten.  

 

“Alright ladies, here you are,” Gail said, the smile still implanted on chapped and wind burned lips.  She looked up at Tori expectantly, who reached into her pocket.  I put my hand on her arm and shook my head, the excitement back.  Pulling out of purse a large amount, I handed it to Gail grinning.  

 

“Keep the change, doll,” I replied with a wink.  I swear that the older woman’s cheeks darkened with color and she returned the gesture.  In all of my excitement then concern for Vega, then excitement again, I hadn’t noticed that the two women who had been down at the end before had moved to sit next to me, safe one stool.  I was too filled with joy that I didn’t even care, even when I heard them betting against each other on who would still be standing at the end. 

 

“You ready to get your ass kicked Vega?” I asked handing her a shot and taking another with my other hand.  She took the glass happily, maybe too happily, and looked up to meet my ecstatic blue green eyes with sad brown ones.  

 

“In your dreams,” she replied, making good with the trash talk.  I only wished that she wasn’t so damn depressed, sitting there with the fakest smile I had ever seen on her lips.  I took a deep breath in, working on not letting her distract me. 

 

“One, two, three,” we said together, so in sync it was alarming, until the    
“Go!” and we each poured the burning liquid down our throats.  She slammed the glass down on the hardwood and I followed suit.  When in Rome, ya know?

 

“So,” she said, slight perk back in her voice, “ what have you been up to this last year?” I hesitated, thinking of what I wanted her to know, more so what I didn’t.

 

“Work heavy, school heavy,” I replied going for another shot, noticing her next one is already firmly placed in between her two hands.  

 

“Two, three!” together we shouted and tipped our heads back.  

 

“What have you been doing with your time Vega?” I asked, starting to feel the effects of the alcohol, with that one technically being my fourth shot in the span of twenty minutes or so.

 

“Oh, you know,” she replied, so casually.  It was just too unnerving for me, this wasn’t the Tori that I knew, the Tori that I had grown accustomed to tolerating on a daily basis for the three years we served together at Hollywood Arts minimal security High School.  

 

“One!” I shouted and she laughed, a real, surprised laugh that filled my ears with exactly what I needed to hear from her.  We clicked our glasses together and shot them back.  A low, sexy, dude what? moan escaped past her lips as she stretched.  Her white V-neck rising up with her arms, and the bronze skin underneath that was revealed was so damn touchable that it wasn’t until after my hot fingertips made contact that I even knew what was happening.

 

Slowly my eyes made their way up her sleek body, lingering on her lips, a  smile there but not one I had ever seen before, then settled on her chocolate brown eyes.  I was surprised to find that as my eyes had wandered, so had my hand, finding it spread flat against her stomach, and still travelling to her hip.  

 

She brought her arms down, lowering her shirt as well, covering my unwilling to retreat hand.  Using the shield of her shirt, and the alcohol in my bloodstream, my boldness grew, from where I had no idea, I mean, this was Vega here.  My hand slid up her side, caressing her ribcage.  My eyes watched as the lump in her shirt moved farther up until another noise came from her and they jumped up to her face. 

 

Eyelids prevented me from seeing those gorgeous deep pools of hers so I looked down lower, seeing slightly parted and oh so kissable lips.   

I don’t know what possessed me, it being Vega and all, but no matter how many times I reminded myself of who she was, I still found myself leaning in closer, hand falling back down to her hip under her shirt.  

 

Tori’s eyes fluttered open, finding mine, our knees touching, and our alcohol tinted breath mingling, our lips were so close.  I brought my other hand up, softly touching her cheek and she leaned into it.  She turned her head and kissed my palm.  

 

“Dance with me,” she demanded with her words, but requested with her pleading eyes.  I gave her a slight nod and she put her hand over mine that was still pressed against her cheek.  She kissed my palm again, which I found tantalizing in a very teasing way, before she pulled me from the barstool by it.  

 

I followed her to the empty dance floor that was on the other side of the bar, away from Gail who, when I turned to look at my purse with some sense coming back to me I saw putting it behind the bar.  Our eyes connected when she looked back up and there was a nod of understanding between us.  It seemed to say that she would protect what was important to me if I would protect what was important to her.  

 

Naturally we came together, her arms around my neck, my hands on her waist, above her jeans and below her shirt, which I had realized was starting to be one of my favorite places to be.  The song was slow and older than what had been playing when I first came in.  We began to shuffle our feet, completely in sync once again, and a smile appeared on my lips, a laugh followed, not a mean one, just happy.  I couldn’t help it, I know, I tried to get it under control but I just could not do it in that moment.     

My eyes caught hold of hers and they showed confusion, frustration.  I know I should have stopped laughing, but the thought only made it come out harder, still not in a mean way.  Tori continued to watch me laugh, in her face but yet not quite, and she knew the difference, believe me.  I was a total bitch to her in school.  

 

“I’m sorry,” I managed to get out in between bursts.  

 

“Dancing with me is funny?” she asked, feigning hurt, but since the first time that night, her chocolaty eyes that I just wanted to swim in were finally showing a familiar shine. 

 

“No, no, well yeah it is,” I replied, my laughter slowing, but with much force on my part.  

 

“I suppose if you had told me a year ago that this would be in our future, I would have laughed as well,” Tori replied, a small smile on her face. 

 

“But you aren’t laughing now,” I said biting my bottom lip.

 

“I guess I don’t find the thought so funny anymore,” Tori replied, her eyes starting to harden.  I missed the shine but it was better than the sad ones I had been looking at all night.  Her eyes left mine and ventured behind me to the bar and what I presume to be the three remaining shots.  

 

“What happened to you Vega?” I asked, genuine concern in my voice and her eyes shot back to me, surprise evident on her face.  Her face softened and she sighed.  

 

“Not right now, please,” she replied looking down at our feet. 

 

“After another shot?” I asked and I saw a grimace on her face, but she nodded.  

 

“Yeah, maybe,” she replied.  She hung on to the end of the song, then let go of me and walked back to the bar with her head hung.  I followed behind her, making my way through the crowd that had at some point joined us on the dance floor.  It kind of shocked me that I hadn’t noticed because it was literally crowded.  

 

I sat down next to her at the bar, watching the way her eyes hungered for the drink in her hand.  I took one of my own, not wanting the damn thing, but the thought of her drinking alone really bothered me.  I didn’t feel like it needed another count down and Tori must have agreed because at the same time we raised the glasses to our lips and drank.  I struggled to keep it down but I refused to let Tori see me hurl.  

 

“I’m done, I can’t do anymore,” I said, hating the defeat in my voice.  My old self had grown back in the last few moments and I turned to face the older women.  “Whoever bet on me, can not only kiss my ass but also pay up.”

 

Tori looked at me, flashes of anger and something else crossed her face before it settled into a more neutral blankness.  Anger I could have lived with but the blankness cut me, hard.  

 

“We had a shot, now spill, what happened to you,” I said flat out.  

 

“Obviously, I developed a drinking problem,” she replied hoarsely. 

 

“Obviously, but what I want to know is why,” I replied beckoning Gail over to me.  She barrelled down the alley with an intense look going from me to Tori.  

 

“Hey doll, could I please get a water with lemon?” I said in my super flirty voice.  The woman’s shoulders visibly relaxed and she nodded.  

 

“Why do you give a shit anyway?” Tori asked sharply drawing my attention back to her.  Her eyes bore into mine and I shamley looked away first, down at the bar where Gail had quietly placed my water.  I glanced toward her and tried to give her a smile and I received another nod.  I squeezed the lemon in and took a long drink.  Immediate smoothness washed over me.  However the six shots I had previously were starting to take full swing.  I met Tori’s eyes again, first with anger, then softening upon seeing those damn sad eyes again. 

 

“I don’t know why I was such a bitch to you in highschool, I mean sure I have some theories but I think they were to make myself feel better,” I replied.  Her entire self seemed to change at the bluntness not of an attacking nature.  I watched as emotions and thoughts ran behind those brown beauties trying to figure me out, whether or not she could believe me.  I also watched as she glimpsed down at the empty shot glasses and a look of victory spread across her face and took up residency on her lips. 

 

“You’re pretty drunk now aren’t you?” she asked, voice like a cool breeze over my hot skin.  This was more the Tori that I knew, sexuality amped up about a hundred percent, but the same.  I actually had to think about it and nodded. 

 

“So it would seem, but am I really?” I asked, my voice teasing and my smirk making her smile widen.  

 

“Okay Jade, you wanna know what’s been up with me?” Tori asked, cocking her head to the side  and licking her lips flirtatiously.  She reached across and took my cherry that I hadn’t noticed from the glass of water and popped it in between those sweet looking lips of hers.  

 

“I wanna know why you didn’t let me kiss you earlier,” I asked, not registering anything at this point, except for her.  

 

“We can either talk about that now or let it fall into place soon enough,” she replied taking the cherry out of her mouth.  I was hooked on whatever came out of her lips that I couldn’t stop looking at.  

 

A little bit of consciousness came back for me to wonder when she became such a smooth talker.  She took the cherry that had been where my tongue suddenly ached to go and brushed it along my already parted lower lip, holding onto it by the stem. 

 

I whimpered and my eyelids fluttered from the sensualness that washed through my body.  Somewhere I knew that I was clutching the edge of a bar, but in my running wild fantasies, her and I were on a beach somewhere.  I could almost hear the waves crashing, the swell rising like my chest did at that very moment.  

 

When I was able to, I looked up at her face, her own parted lips accepting the cherry back into her mouth and plucking it free of the stem.  A throaty growl came past my own lips that I didn’t even know was inside of me, begging for a moment like this to be released.  In a flash out of complete primal instinct I put my hands on her cheeks and pulled her lips to my own.  

 

The soft and fullness of her lips caught me off guard, but only for a moment.  I heard her sigh, a sigh that came from around a cherry, a cherry that was mine.  My tongue leaped across our lips, slipped around the cherry and pulled it into my mouth.  That was the end of my very simple plan, to get the cherry back from her.  I hadn’t counted on her tongue chasing after it, pulling it to where it rested between our lips.  Teeth replaced lips and we tore the cherry in two, pulling away with our prize and thick red juice slipping down both of our chins.  

 

My eyes opened immediately, not knowing when they had closed, in time to see her grinning mouth being swiped at by her long finger and thumb.  She missed the juice on her chin, and after swallowing my half of the most delicious maraschino cherry I had ever had, I went back for a second taste of Tori’s lips.  My tongue licked at hers, fell out to brush along her bottom lip, and then slid down her chin.  

 

Satisfied with me licking her mouth and chin clean Tori pulled away and hungry brown eyes locked on my, at that moment, more greener than blue ones, then dropped lower on my face as my long tongue retrieved the juice that was on my own chin.  My hands fell away from her face and we turned away from each other to face the bar again.  

 

“One,” I said taking a hold of the glass I told myself and a few other people that I would not consume the contents of.  Tori took a hold of her own.  

 

“Two,” she said, her voice as quiet as mine.  I looked over at her to find her watching me.  We drank the liquid and this time no queasiness presented itself.  Score, because I really fucking needed that one.  

 

“Las’ one,” I said reaching over and taking her last glass.  She complied in taking mine and without another toast, we drank again.  Sitting in silence, allowing the liquor to do it’s fucking job, I looked over and saw her glaring at the empty glasses before us.    

 

“I’m a nobody, I never thought that would happen.  I mean I did of course before Hollywood Arts, but not after.  No one is interested in a girl who’s jus like a hundreds of other ones.”  I looked up to see it wasn’t the alcohol causing her words to slur, she was crying.  

 

“Vega,” I said, not knowing what else to say.  

 

“How damn dumb is that?  I mean not that but me thinking for a second that I was different, I had what it took, ya know?”

 

“You are diffent, you’re Tori fuckin Vega,” I replied.  Definitely the alcohol for my slurriness.  

 

“I hate my job, I hate going to school, I haven’t been able to meet a single friend at either and I’m not used to that,” Tori said.  

 

“Who has the fuckin time?  I haul ass to get from one side of town to the utter jus to be late and fuck taffic man, at that hour, f’get it,” I replied, my hand acting like it’s outside an open car window rolling in the breeze. 

 

Tori was pretty blurry to me at that point but I know that she spun me around by my shoulders and looking into my glossy eyes, or at least I thought she was.  

 

“Come out to my car?” she asked and I wished she had more confidence in her voice.  

 

“Fuck that,” I replied and while shit was a little hard to see and focus on, I saw hurt on Tori’s face.  I put my hand on top of hers on the bar.  My other hand dropped down on her thigh.  “I mean that I have a cot’age over there,” I gestured to a random wall of the bar “and why should we not go there ‘stead.”

 

“Oh,” Tori replied and took a hold of the hand that was on top of hers.  

 

“Gail!” I hollered and came face to face with a stern looking woman who, if she would just stop spinning, I would recognize to be Gail, holding up my purse.  I smiled at the woman and ruffled her hair.  

 

“Be safe now,” she warned with a softness.  I took the purse and let Tori all but drag me out of the bar and into the hot air of the great outside, which for some drunk ass reason reminded me of a christmas carol and I felt the need to belt it out.  

 

“Oh the weather o’side is frightingful,” I sang drunkenly into the night sky.  

“Jade, what cottage is it?” Tori asked.  I handed her my purse and continued. 

 

“Bu fire is sooooo d’li’fl,” I tumbled into Tori who wrapped her arm around me and dug threw my purse in front of us.  She found it and with a determined to get there now kind of attitude, pulled me with her to the cottage faster.  She unlocked the door as I repeated “Leso Leso Leso.”

 

The door opened and I was pushed through by Tori who closed the door behind us and threw my purse and key on the table by the tv.  She moved quicker than my vision could follow and the next thing I knew, I was pressed against the door by her body.  Her hands tangled in my raven hair, without streaks nowadays but still black as the night, and her lips were in between mine, gnashing our mouths together.  

 

I might not have seen it all coming or knew how it happened but damn, it felt good.  I put my hands on her shoulders and pushed her back just a little.  Before she could pull her lips away from mine, I captured her bottom one with my teeth and bit down gently.  She moaned out and locked her lips to mine once again, only this time not as hard.  

 

My head rolled back, her fingers slipping deeper into my ebony waves, as she planted feverish kisses along my jaw and down my neck.  I slid my hands over her shoulders and pressed her to me harder, groans of pleasure coming out of parted lips.  

 

“Go slow cowboy, this is my first rodeo,” I moaned.  Tori’s head snapped up front so fast I got whiplash just from watching it happen.  

 

“Jade, you’re a…” she could not finish the sentence, after doing everything that had already been done, and she couldn’t call me a virgin, how adorable.  I smiled and shook my head.  

 

“You are not a cowboy Vega, and the cowboys I have had, whew.  You are a sexy cowgirl, minus the hat and the boots, course, but you already knew that,” I said, gaining a nod from Tori with understanding. 

 

“It’s just like that, just like with the cowboys, baby,” her sexy voice was back, seemingly encouraged by me reminding her of how very intoxicated I was.  Odd turn on but who was I to judge.  Speaking of which… 

 

“Hmm?  Are you going to use your lasso and tie me up?” I asked digging my nails into her shoulder blades.  I could see Tori desperately trying not to laugh, chewing on her bottom lip.  

 

“Oh I don’t need to tie you up Jade,” she cooed, pressing her body against mine again, her knee sliding in between my legs, and oh fuck did I feel that as she pressed it even harder against me.  I hissed in a deep breath through my teeth and let it out in a moan as her lips went back to assaulting my very sensitive neck.  

 

“Bed, Tor,” I moaned out.  She let out a growl as she turned us around and let me fall onto the bed.  She looked down, taking me in I suppose, and jumped on top of me.  The next thing I knew, morning light was pouring in and I was all by myseeeelelf.  Sigh.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


The following Friday after I settled in I decided to head over to Joe’s.  It was less crowded than the previous Saturday, but it was still quite a hopping place for a sleepy town like that one.  Gail was behind the bar and as we locked eyes, she beckoned me over the the empty side of bar.  I made my way through and plopped down on the stool.  

 

“What’s up, buttercup?” I said with a smirk.  

 

“We need to talk about Tori,” she replied.  

 

“Can I get a drink first, cupcake?” I asked.  Her eyebrow raised, face stoic as ever though, but I still had to be getting close to getting a rise out of her. 

 

“Another setup?” she asked, and I had to fight hard not to cringed. 

 

“Shirley Temple please,” I replied.  Her face immediately softened and I swore there was even a hint of a smile at her lips.  

 

“Sure thing, sugar britches,” she replied and I laughed.  Her back was turned to me but I knew she was smiling herself.  When she turned back around though there was a very thoughtful look on her face.   

 

“What’s with the threads?  You look a hell of a lot like a lady in that getup.”

 

I looked down to see my gray “professional” pants and dark blue button down.  Thank christ I had left my jacket back in the cottage.  

 

“Yeah well you look like a dyke,” I retorted and to my relief she howled out a laugh.  I wasn’t intimidated by her, I had just grown to like the woman and didn’t want to hurt her feelings.  I was getting better at that by the way, being more considerate and shit.  

 

“I know that I’m a dyke sweetheart, I just had no clue that you were a businesswoman,” Gail replied still smiling.  

 

“Businesswoman by week, snarky bar patron by Friday afternoon,” I replied and put my lips on the straw to suck up more yummy cherry juice.  My thoughts twittered back to last weekend and I grinned.  

 

“Speaking of which, how would you like a new weekend job?” Gail asked, breaking into my thoughts like a wre… nevermind.  

 

“Being?  Because I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that I would be a terrible waitress,” I replied.  

 

“Let’s chat first, see how things go, then we’ll see.”  I nodded for her to continue, deliriously sipping more mm mm goodness down my throat hole. 

 

“How do you know Tori?” she asked.  My mind tracked back to her crashing in on my remembrance of last weekend and wondered if she had super mind reading capability or if it was just a co-winky-dink.

 

“I met her here last weekend, remember gorgeous, you were there,” I replied, speaking to one of the flannel twins who had just took the seat next to me.  The other woman plopped down on the other side of me and I shot her a wink and a head nod, Tribbiani style and said “How you doin’?”

 

“You’re real cute and all West, but let’s cut the shit for now, alright?” Right twin said.  She held out her man-paw out to me and I slipped my tiny girl hand into the wondrously huge oven mitt watching as it disappear. 

 

“I am really hoping to see that again because being a single lady these days, not much fun without your right hand gal pal.  I named her Laverne, I fancy the left one Shirley.  Kapow.”  Shirley was wiggling her fingers at left twin.  

 

Gail sighed behind the bar and lowered her head, shaking it from side to side, acting real disappointed in me, but I could she was trying not to laugh.  

 

“I’m Ethel,” Right twin said releasing Shirley.  

 

“Oh Em Gee!” I just turning to left twin.  “Don’t tell me, and you’re Lucy!”  Gail turned around to put her back to me, the ultimate shunning in progress, minus the fact I caught the huge ass smile on her face.  Coughing followed by a deep breath and she was back with us folks, stern face planted. 

 

“This?  This is who you think we should trust this with?” Ethel said to Gail.  

Gail held up her hand to Ethel. 

 

“How do you know Tori Vega?” she asked again.  I sighed and swirled my straw in the nearly empty glass.  

 

“We went to highschool together,” I replied.  Gail took my glass from me and refilled it.  

 

“I suppose these cherries in here aren’t as much fun for you without Tori here,” Gail said grinning.  I shot her a smile that reached my eyes back at her as she set the freshly filled glass back in front of me. 

 

“What’s going on with her?  We haven’t seen each other since graduation and man was she a bummer most of the night,” I asked, looking between the three of them and the three of them looking at each other.  Ethel nodded at Gail then her and um, Lucy I guess, walked away back down the bar.  

 

“Holy fucking shit, no one talks to Big E like that, fuck I don’t even talk to Big E like that,” Gail said grinning.  I smiled and waited for her to go on about Tori.  The grin fell from her face and her stern look was back.  

 

“I’m not going to tell you shit about Tori, you’re going to have to learn it on your own.  Don’t worry, she won’t waste much more time in telling you most of her woes,” Gail said.  

 

“Gail, I’m not coming back here tomorrow night,” I replied.  

 

“Maybe you will and maybe you won’t.  One thing’s for sure though, you’re going to stay sitting on that barstool and hear me out.”

 

“And that’s a guarantee, how do you suppose?” I asked. 

 

“Because I will give you all the damn Shirley sissy drinks you want, from here on out, for forever, and whatever else you want from here, food and beverage wise that is, I know you fancy Lucy over there and I can’t make no guarantees on that,” Gail replied, the biggest smile I had yet to see just arrived and it’s a doozy.   

“Talk to me Gail, what am I looking at here,” I said sighing. 

 

“That damn girl has been coming in here every Saturday night, getting shit faced, and leaving with some stranger.  I cannot stand by and watch it happen again.”  

 

“Well that damn girl and I have a rocky history and I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy last weekend,” let’s all take a moment here to blush, me and Gail did anyway “but I’m not that kind of girl, I mean one who’s into other women, girls, whatever.  I am not a lesbian.”  

 

“So?  You were very convincing last weekend, even to yourself but I’ll let that go until we’re in a better standing with each other.  You sure as hell convinced Tori and that’s all I’m asking you to do.  Take all damn night to convince her if you have to, I’ll probably go broke and her organs will shut down eventually from the amount of liquor that approach will take…” Gail trailed off and she shrugged her shoulders.  “Better stay away from that one.  But damnit Jade, please?”

 

“What the hell am I supposed to do with her all night?”

 

“Fuck if I know, that’s part of the problem I’m having here.  But you know her, you’re the same age, you have something in common, somewhere.  I mean, don’t cha?”  That right there brought a grin to my face.  

 

“I know what Vega needs!” I exclaimed standing up, knocking the stool over with a loud ass crash.  Gail reached across the bar top with both of her hands and I let out a yip!  Or maybe it was more of a eep???

Anyway, as I contemplate what sound effect sounded more accurate, not only are Gail’s calloused hands on my own, but oven mitt’s mcgee and Lucy are man handling me.  

 

“Not my face!” I yelled out, slamming my eyes shut, said face in question scrunching up, waiting to be abused and for some reason thinking that the wrinkles will absorb the majority of the blows, about to come, any minute now… I opened my eyes and yes it did take seeing to believe that all of their hands were off of my person.  Curious looks from all three of their faces met mine, and then Gail led them in a all about laugh riot of the century. 

 

I crossed my arms and cocked my eyebrow, so much less effective without the metal stud, and waited for the three older women to pull themselves together.  In the meantime, seeing as how that took much longer than I thought it would, I picked up the barstool and finished off my second Shirley from the Temple.  Which reminded me…I held up my hands.

 

“You wanted a fix for Tori, right?” is all I had to say.  Instantly, three very red in the faced women settled down, tears in all six eyes that stared at me, waiting for me to go on.  “I don’t know how much you guys know about Vega, but there is a very simple distraction to implement here.  She’s a singer at heart, has a passion for music, a raw talent to perform… In front of an audience…” I paused, waiting for them to get it, watching to see the light bulb go off.  Nothing.  I sighed then did a fucking face palm.  “Karaoke, fellas, make Saturday night Karaoke night.  Get a machine, DJ, hell make Tori you’re appointed DJ for christ sake.” 

 

“Jade, you just earned yourself a night with Lucy,” Gail said and another burst of laughter erupted into the near empty bar, even from myself. 

  
  
  


After I left the bar that night, the cottage was a nice welcoming.  Hot shower, soft PJs, lake side view… and still a big ol’ white, untouched, nothing but a fucking blinking cursor when I turned my laptop on.  I sighed, suddenly not having the energy to try and out blink the cursor, or pretend like at any second I’ll come up with something.  Lights went out and I was in bed by a decent hour, for me anyway.  Hooray.

  
  


I woke up feeling pretty damn rested and decided to go for a swim in my own, rented, front yard.  The water was cool at the hour and brought a burst of something out of me.  I wrote like a maniac for the entire day, let me say that again, ENTIRE DAY!  No horn tooting, back slapping going on here sir.

It wasn’t until there was a banging on the door then a tapping on the window when I even noticed that it was dark outside, pulling back the curtains to find Ethel behind then.  I waited until I let them back in place before I shuttered.  I presumed my Lucy was behind door number one, and sure as shit she was.  

 

Locking the door behind me and sliding the key into my pocket, I followed the flannel twins back to the very busy bar, kicking Vega’s tires as I went by her car, parked right at the divider for the cottages and marked the end of the bar’s parking. 

 

“What is she up to in there?” I asked.  Lucy shook her head, and I realized that I had never heard a peep coming out of that locked jaw of hers. 

 

“You’ll see,” Ethel replied, joining her sister in the shaking of the heads tribe.  I wanna join in the fun, so the three of us crossed the filled to the brim parking lot with our heads shaking slowly from side to side. 

 

Ethel barrelled through the doors of the place and holy fucking shit was it packed!  I grabbed onto Lucy’s flannel and stayed tucked behind her broad shoulders and back until she followed her sister behind the opened gap of bartop.  Gail was pouring shot after shot, and Ethel and Lucy wasted no time in taking on the other female patron’s orders.  

 

Left alone on the other side of the bar, I set out scanning the crowd for my, charge?  She was easy to find because whereas there were a lot of women on the floor of the establishment, there were only five dancing on top of the bar, and Tori Vega happened to be in the very middle.  Of course she was.  I screamed at myself for letting Gail and the flannel twins talk me into this situation, in my head but it wouldn’t have made any difference if it had been out loud, the place was so fucking noisy.  

 

I pushed my way through the wall of women, not giving a shit about whose drink I knocked out of their hand, until I was right in front of Tori’s long legs.  

She must have seen the chaos I left in my wake because when my eyes finally settled on her face, she was grinning down at me, satisfaction showing in her damn luring chocolatey brown eyes. 

 

The bitch actually jumped down and into my arms, the force causing me to backpedal into the crowd.  There was lots of angry shouting, not that I could really blame them, for Tori’s actions anyway, but I hollered back at them to shut the fuck up.  Tori laughed, her arms still around my neck, mine around her waist.  I dragged her through the mob and outside the door with her laughing the entire way.  

 

Once the hot summer air started to fill her lungs, the laughing stopped, but the smile never left, even from her eyes.  She was wobbling she had gotten so drunk, and I made a mental note of cussing Gail out for letting her get this way.  Luckily for her, our arms were still around each other and I held her mostly upright as she swayed our bodies this way, then swooshed our bodies that way.  It was getting to be a regular fucking do-si-do and I was getting nauseous.  

 

I took the cabin key out of my pocket and her eyes lit up even more.  I turned my body in our embrace and bent forward.  

 

“Get on,” I growled, knowing there was no way that I was going to sway to and fro across the fully packed car lot.  She took a drunken half ass leap up but it was enough for me to grab her legs and we set off, forward through the night, her laughter ringing in my ears the whole fucking way.  At my door I didn’t waste any time pushing the key in the slot and pushing open the door.  I walked through the room and literally dumped her on the bed.

 

“How very cave man of you,” she said.  It really bothered me that she was this intoxicated and could still enunciate when if I had more than a couple of beers my words were up to anyone’s own interpretation.  

“Yeah, yeah, me Tarzan, you Jane,” I replied rubbing my shoulders one at a time, believe me, if I could have done them both simultaneously I would have, making my way over to the door to retrieve the key from the lock.  Once it was closed I turned and leaned against it, surveying my new situation, who was still laying on her back, propped up with her elbows, and what I can only describe as fuck me eyes blazing out and directed at me.  

 

I gulped as I went to the bed and sat on the edge of it, my hands folded in my lap, eyes on the floor.  Tori scooted closer to me and removed my hands, letting them fall to my sides.  She brought my arm up and her head fell in my lap, cutting off my view of the oddly stained carpet with her beautiful face.  She pulled my arm into her and cuddled with it as her eyes slowly shut closed.  Without any thought behind it, my other hand brushed her hair out of her face, then stroked it gently.  

 

I heard her sigh softly, her lips curved up in contentedness, and my hand pressed between my lap and her chest, tucked right under her chin.  Within moments, she was lightly snoring, and I was stuck sitting on the edge of the bed with a sleeping Vega in my lap.  Fuck me, I thought to myself.  

That was not how I saw my night ending.  

 

In the morning I woke up, finding that at some point of the night I had managed to pull my legs on the bed and Tori was spooned in front of me, my arm draped over her stomach.  It seemed I had actually woken up to a noise, but I couldn’t place it until I heard it again, a tapping on the window.  Slowly, and careful not to wake her, I eased off the bed and went out of the door, closing in as quietly as I could.  Gail met me on the other side of the building, where the window was, holding a large coffee out for me.  I gladly accepted it and we walked a ways, in the direction of the bar.

 

“You were late last night,” she said finally.  

 

“Writing, I lost track of time,” I replied a drank longingly from the hot beverage.  

 

“Now you know why she needs someone to be there,” Gail said.  

 

“Oh I saw plenty, how could you let her get like that?” I asked, remembering my mental note.  

 

“I don’t, she is a very attractive woman in a lesbian bar.  She is charming as all hell and has no problem getting whoever she sets out for in buying her a drink,” Gail replied. 

 

“Yeah, or fucking twenty,” I added.  

 

“I talked to Joe last night about the Karaoke idea, he wasn’t thrilled about it,” Gail said. 

 

“Wait, there’s really a Joe?  I thought you owned the bar,” I replied, eyebrow raised. 

 

“Him and I are partners, he’s the money guy, I’m the face,” Gail said.  

 

“And what a face it is,” I said.  

 

“Yeah, smartass, anyway, he said he’d think about it.  I’m asking you to be there for her, earlier than last night, until I can convince him, ok?” she asked. 

 

“I want to know some things first, before I agree,” I said.  Gail sighed and nodded.  

 

“Fair enough,” she replied.  We had just been walking in circles, around the empty lot, save her and Tori’s car.  There was a bench by the lake, close to the cottage and we sat down.  She pulled a wrapped in plastic piece of bread out of her pocket and picked some off before tossing it to the ducks on the lake.  I watched her as I finished off the coffee and didn’t have the energy to tease her about it. 

 

“What is your thing with Tori?” I asked, the bread all gone and nothing left to really watch but the ducks swimming lazily along. 

 

“She’s Ethel and Lucy’s family somehow, I don’t know.  They asked me to help them out because as I’m sure you picked up on it, they aren’t much for talking,” Gail said.  Thinking back on it, I noticed how the flannel twins had the same chocolatey brown eyes, and brown hair.  

 

“Not her father’s side I imagine,” I replied.  Tori was half Latina, the flannel twins were most certainly not big with the salsa.  

 

“No, they’re her mother’s aunt, not close I don’t think, but they take family very serious.  And who the hell wants any girl in trouble, be it with a man or woman,” Gail said.  Jade thought about it.  How in the morning last week Tori had just left her there, without waking her up to say goodbye.  

 

“She needs to be taught a lesson,” I said, my eyes narrowing.  Gail looked at me and shook her head.  

 

“I’ve talked to her until I was blue in the face, nothing is going to sink in, she’s in a bad way right now,” Gail replied. 

 

“What’s with that by the way?  She was always so bubbly in school, it was really fucking annoying until I saw the sadness that has replaced it,” I asked. 

 

“Don’t know kitten, she hasn’t told you?”

 

“She said some bullshit about being a no one, hating her job and school, not making friends,” I said.  

 

“Not having friends might kill a girl like Tori, she has a need to be liked, accepted.  I have a feeling that no one knew about her taste in companionship back in school,” Gail said. 

 

“Nope, there was never an indication that she liked other women,” I replied, thinking back on it.  Who knew Tori could pull off such an act.  She wasn’t exactly boy crazy, but she flirted with them, dated a couple… 

 

“She doesn’t like to hide who she is,” Gail said, and I smirked. 

 

“No, she likes to shine,” I replied.  “Which is exactly why I’m going to kick her ass or teach her a lesson.”  I said.  

 

“Remember, the twins will destroy you if you harm a hair on her head,” Gail reminded. 

 

“They won’t,” I said. 

 

“Lucy’s fond of you but you better watch yourself around Ethel,” Gail said.  

 

“What is her name?  I kind of feel bad for calling her Lucy,” I admitted.  

 

“Why?  It’s fucking Lucy?”  And we both bursted out laughing.  

 

“I gotta go do some shit, I’ll stop by the bar before I leave town though alright?” I stood up and Gail nodded still chuckling. 

 

I slipped back into my room quietly and went to the desk.  I wrote up a quick note and left it next to Tori’s still sleeping body.  I watched her for a few more minutes, remembering how perky she was in school, thankful we didn’t do sports there so I never had to see her in a cheerleader outfit.  

Or maybe, I regretted that we weren’t into sports and the opportunity was lost.  

 

I packed up my shit, moving ultra ninja like, kissed Tori on the forehead, and slipped out.  I returned my cottage key and slipped the man behind the counter $50 to insure that Tori wouldn’t be interrupted by the staff.  I loaded my bags into the car then headed for the bar.  

 

“What did you do?” Gail asked, drying off glasses.

 

“Left a note, some shit about thanks for a great evening, signed it Brad,” I replied sitting down at the bar.  

 

“Could work,” Gail said, obviously thinking about it.  

 

“Maybe, maybe not.  She’s fully clothed, didn’t think about that until just now,” I said tapping my finger against my chin.  Gail shrugged.  

 

“The dude name will hopefully freak her out enough that she won’t think about it too much,” Gail replied.  “Didn’t get any last night then?”  Her eyes were full of playfulness.

 

“I told you I’m not gay,” I said.  

 

“She fell asleep on you, didn’t she?”

 

“Literally, head in my lap out cold,” Gail laughed.  

 

“Yeah, she was out of her fucking mind drunk last night,” Gail shook her head. 

 

“She’s a total babe, there’s no way anyone wouldn’t buy her a drink, especially if she dances on a bar the way she did on stage,” I said.  “Anyway, press on Joe about the idea and I’ll see you Friday.”  Gail nodded and I stood up and went to the door.  “By the way, tell Lucy I’ll see her too.”  I walked out leaving Gail laughing.  

  
  
  


By the time Friday showed up, Joe still hadn’t agreed to the karaoke idea so I was scheduled babysitting duty again for the next night.  I just popped in to check on things then went straight to bed.  It had been a hellish work week and I really needed some damn peace and quiet and sleep.  I didn’t have the energy to fight with a blank screen anyway.

 

In the morning I opted for another swim, and once again it awakened the writer in me and I was able to knock out page after page until the alarm clock I had set went off.  I wanted to get to the bar before Tori did, see if she remembered anything from the week before, ask me about Brad, seem rattled in any way.  I didn’t see Tori’s car in the nearly abandoned parking and was relieved I had made it time.

 

“Hey muffin, want a Shirley?” Gail asked as I sat down.  I smiled and nodded.  I hadn’t decided on whether or not I was going to drink that evening, but in case I did, I wanted to wait for Tori.  I would never admit it out loud, but fuck if I could keep up with that girl.  Gail set the drink in front of me and I noticed extra cherries this time.  I looked up at her. 

 

“You know, just in case you have to share,” Gail answered without a question and winked.  I shook my head and popped one into my mouth, immediately missing the fight for it.  

 

Without the swarm of people, and time to kill, I noticed that there was a pool table in the front corner.  After receiving an abundance of quarter’s from Gail I made my way over to it and laid them all down.  I didn’t know how long I would be waiting, cursing myself for never asking what time she usually showed up.  On my third solo game, the doors opened and she strutted in like she owned the damn place.  

 

I watched as she waved to a few of the girls and sat down at the bar.  Gail looked up at me and I gave her a nod and received one in return.  Tori looked to where Gail did and her smile grew when she locked eyes with me.  I was surprised to find myself smiling back at her.  I knew the whole point of this was to keep an eye on her, but I didn’t think I would enjoy it.  Sober at least. 

 

By the time I scratched on the eight ball, losing to myself yet again, I felt her eyes on me from a much closer distance.  

 

“I’m surprised you came back,” she said from the other side of the table.  

 

“Get used to it, I’m staying close by and I like the atmosphere,” I said pushing the metal device in for the table to swallow another load of quarters.  

 

“We never got around to why that was,” she said walking around the long edge of the table.  

 

“Why I’m staying here, or why I like the atmosphere?” I asked racking the balls.  

 

“Both,” she said taking the yellow number one from my hand.  I had managed to not get lost in her eyes by not looking at them.  She was making that difficult to maintain. 

 

“You have my ball and I want it back,” I said, eyeing the way she rolled it around in her fingers, long fingers that I suddenly found myself missing.  Blood rushed to my cheeks and I looked up at her finally, seeing that damn grin.  

 

“Made you blush,” she replied.  I sighed and took the ball from her, placing it in its rightful spot at the top.  I carefully removed the triangle and  bent down to put it back in its slot.  When I stood back up, Tori was leaning back against the table with my pool stick in her hand. 

 

“If you’re going to play with me, you could at least stop stealing my shit,” I said, lame I know.  She handed me the stick, still grinning.  

 

“I don’t see why we can’t share it,” she cooed.  I put my hand on the stick and looked back over to Gail who was talking to Ethel, just so I didn’t have to look at her.  She let go and I broke the balls.  I handed her back the stick and she took it from me.  I went to the side of the table and watched as she surveyed the break.  

 

She saw something that she liked and bent down.  Her tank top fell open some, revealing the tops of her breasts and I looked away.  I heard the crack of the balls and turned.  She made the shot and set up the next, leaving me with the same problem as before.  This time I saw the ball go on though and rolled my eyes.  You didn’t spend all of that time in a bar and not know how to shoot pool.  

 

“So, why are you in town?” she asked as she chalked the tip.  I met her eyes from across the table.  

 

“Business,” I replied.  She nodded, easy answer to accept.  

 

“And the atmosphere?” she looked back down at the table.  Business, I thought in my head. 

 

“Why wouldn’t I like this place?” I said instead.  My answer must have shaken her some given the missed easy shot for her.  She stood up straight and sauntered around the table to give me the stick back.  Our hands touched and I looked up into her eyes.  

 

“Jade, I know you aren’t, into women,” Tori said meeting my eyes.  I shrugged and bent down for a nearly impossible shot.  Surprising the both of us, and playing bitches rules, I made an even more impressive shot and hid my surprise to actually pay attention for the next one.  

 

“Jade,” she said again.  A girl could get used to hearing her name rolling off of that delicious tongue.  

 

“Ssh,” I replied lining up the stick only to have it taken from my hand just as I was about to release.  

 

“Dude, what the fuck?” I asked straightening up to look at her.  

 

“What are you doing back in here?  The last time you didn’t know it was a gay bar, now you do, and you aren’t gay.” 

 

“So what?  Are you going to tell on me?” I asked crossing my arms over my chest, realizing she excluded the weekend in between.  “Where them sexy twins at?  Are they the gay police Vega?”

 

“Stop, I just need to know if you came back for, another reason,” she said cautiously, avoiding my eyes.

 

“I’m not drinking tonight,” I replied.  

 

“Me either,” she replied looking up into my eyes.  I tried to not let the surprise show and I nodded.  

 

“How come you never came out in high school?” I asked.  She sighed and handed me the stick back.  I took it and watched as she sat down on one of the stools against the wall.  I saw that she needed some time to decide if she was going to answer me or not so I lined the shot back up.  It went in easy enough but I knocked one of her balls in with it.  

 

“Your turn,” I said handing the stick back.  She bit her bottom lip and fuck if I didn’t whimper.  Her eyes shot toward mine and she smiled.  She nodded her head in what appeared to be confirmation, of what I didn’t know and she took the stick out of my hand and slid her body along mine as she went by.  I closed my eyes and sat down on the recently vacated stool.  

 

Sighing, I opened my eyes to find her tight ass in very close proximity to me.  I groaned out just as she made another shot.  I prayed to anyone that she couldn’t hear it over the crack of the balls on the table.

 

“You’re fucking with me Vega,” I proclaimed.  She turned and looked over her shoulder with that damn grin of hers.  

 

“Whatever do you mean Jade?” she cooed, drawing out another fucking blush into my cheeks.  Get a hold of yourself West! I screamed in my head.  Sudden rage, my go to helper in these moments, took over and I stood up.  

 

“You’re fucking hustling me,” I said.  Good, let’s go with that.  

 

“Out of a friendly game of pool?” she replied turning around to face me, our bodies grazing each other.  

 

“I-ah-um-hmm” I very articularly stuttered, the blush obviously gaining more ground.  

 

“So, let me get this straight,” she said taking the last step to push our bodies against each other fully, which wasn’t a hard puzzle to put together with the way we fit so snuggly.  

 

“You are knowingly in a gay bar on a Saturday night, not to drink, but because of the atmosphere, that’s it?”  The words came out in a hot breath on my ear as I stood my ground, a ground that caved in and I sat back on the stool, thankful it was behind me. She stood over me, our eyes locking again.  

 

“Yeah, well, so are you,” I finally replied.  She leered down at me then backed off going back to the table sizing up our layout.  I breathed out a sigh of relief, and looked up in time to see her make two of her balls in.  She went to the other side of the table, chalked the end again, and made yet another shot.  She only had one of hers left, then the eight ball. 

 

“Glad we didn’t have money on this,” I said standing up.  She looked at me, pursed her lips together then nodded.  She bent down, lined it up, and then she had no balls left.  

 

“You want a turn?” she asked, venom in her voice.  

 

“Dude, you’re a mean sober,” I replied.  

 

“I know,” she replied just before calling and succeeding at knocking the eight ball into the side pocket.  She put the stick on the table and walked off towards the bar.  I saw Gail bend down and come back up with her purse.  Then she made her way through the crowd and was out the door.  I didn’t need to see the daggers from the twins, I could feel them.  I huffed and threw my hands up and went after her.  

 

“Vega!” I called out once into the darkness.  

 

“What?” I heard her hiss back from against the wall.  I turned around and saw her sitting on the bench.  I sat down next to her, Forrest Gangnam style.  

 

“Why didn’t you come out in high school?” I asked again.  She sighed and leaned back against the wall. 

 

“It wouldn’t have done any good,” she replied. 

 

“You don’t know that,” I said. 

 

“Yeah, actually I do.  I joined the college’s PFLAG and I still come here every Saturday hoping that I’ll meet someone.  I never do,” she replied. 

 

“But why?” I asked, thoroughly confused. 

 

“I don’t know, too high of standards I guess,” she said.  

 

“Like what?”

 

“Like expecting them to still be lying next to me in the morning,” she answered. 

 

“Dude, you totally left me hanging there,” I stated.  She turned her head and looked at me. 

 

“And that it wouldn’t take eight shots to get them there in the first place.”  

 

“Oh.  Well I did try to kiss you after only five,” I said, hating myself instantly. 

 

“I developed a drinking problem in order to keep up with my “dates,” she said, actually using air quotes.  

 

“Vega, you’re a babe, and you’re smart and sometimes funny, you don’t need to get assholes drunk to spend a night with you,” I said. 

 

“Well, the first asshole didn’t need alcohol to leave after a month, the second was at a party that I don’t remember and never saw her again, and the third was after another party, same result.  Landing dates is easy, sticking the landing not so much.”  I chuckled.

 

“See?  Kind of funny,” I said.  She laughed with me.  

 

“Yeah, and you also called me a babe,” she replied.  

 

“Come on, you know you’re hot,” I said nudging her shoulder. 

 

“I want more than one night to feel hot Jade, with the same person,” she said.  I turned and met her eyes.  Those damn sad eyes again.  Now I understood them though. 

 

“Well I’ve known you for almost four years and I think you’re still hot,” I replied. 

 

“And you’re not even drunk,” she replied, her smile reaching her eyes.  

 

“Nope, not even a little bit,” I replied.  The gorgeous Tori eyes stayed for another moment, as she leaned in closer to me.  My heart started racing like I was intoxicated and I closed my eyes and waited for her lips to meet mine again.  I realized that I had been waiting for that all along.  Huh.  

 

“But you’re still not gay,” she said.  I opened my eyes to find fucking sad ones had taken over again.  I groaned and put my hands on the side of her face and pulled her lips to mine.  I had to do everything!

 

She protested at first then melted into the kiss when I put my lips in between hers.  She put her arms around my neck, and I lowered my hands to her waist, finding my favorite spot of her hips.  

 

“Do you still have that cottage?” she asked, her lips still against mine.  I felt my body tense and she pulled away in response, and of course fucking sad eyes!

 

“No, Tori, it’s not that.  I may not be gay but I know now that I’m not straight either,” I replied kissing her again.  She kissed me back then pulled away again, this time, no sad eyes, just curious ones. 

 

“What then?” she asked.  I sighed.  

 

“What did you do last Saturday?” I asked.  She cringed in my arms.  

 

“Apparently went back to men,” she replied and I laughed.  

 

“No, you got really, really drunk here, I took you back to the cottage, you passed out before anything could happen.  Then I left you a note from Brad to get you back for leaving me alone the weekend before,” I said.  

 

“So, you’re Brad?” she asked pulling back slightly but not taking her arms from around my neck.  

 

“You still want to be my Damnit, Janet?” I asked.  She grinned and kissed me again.

 

“Oh Brad, I’m mad,” she cooed against my lips and we started laughing, our foreheads pressed together.  Just then Ethel and Lucy came out of the bar and from our laughter found us rather easily.  We let go of one another and looked up at them.

 

“Hey good lookin’” I said and winked at Lucy, who blushed.  Tori punched me on the shoulder good naturedly.  I took her hand in mine.  

 

“What’s up, buttercup?” Lucy said and with that the four of us started a whole new round of laugh your ass off.  Too bad Gail missed it, left on her own to tend to the bar.

 

That’s how Tori and I came to be out on the dance floor, me behind her holding onto her hips, her hand still over mine, the other had crept up my neck and tangled into my raven locks.  And that is how you will find us every Saturday night, on the dance floor of Joe Schmoe’s Don’t Ya Know.  

Joe finally agreed to a Karaoke machine and Tori is the sexiest DJ you will ever find out there.  

 

Gail put me to real work behind the bar and as it turns out, I’m not all that bad at it.  I still write during the weekend days, starting with a swim in the lake and Tori usually joining me.  She quit the job that she hated and now works in the same office as I do, different floor ‘cause come on, how much Vega is a girl suppose to handle?

 

We moved in together a week before classes started back up that we go to at night.  Both of us were promoted to the full time staff at the office.  So far we haven’t killed each other, so that’s good.  I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t gay, or straight, or even bisexual.  Just completely, helplessly in love with a woman named Vega, Tori.  I like to think she likes me a little too.  

  
  
  
  



End file.
